1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for the analysis, control, automation, and information management of life-cycle processes of technical products, particularly in the case of complex products such as in the sector of telecommunications, for example. The life cycle typically begins with the planning and development of a new product, includes steering and improvement of the product that has been introduced onto the market, and ends, for example, after production and sale have ended, with the cessation of technical support for end customers.
2. The Prior Art
The development of high-technology products, such as mobile telephones or other electronic devices, for example, is complicated and labor-intensive, due to the complexity of these products, and makes it necessary to take a plurality of technical and economic facts into consideration. Thus, for example, scientific and technical formulas, specified values from industrial standards, and other technical expert knowledge must be taken into consideration, just as much as production-related restrictions, customer desires, and specified values in terms of design and economics. Within the framework of such product development, whether or not the technical requirements have been met is checked by different kinds of product tests, for example on prototypes or also by computer simulation, and then the results of these tests are utilized within the framework of product development, in an iterative, incremental method of procedure, for further improvement of efficiency.
However, with the market introduction of a technical product, feedback from business partners, dealers and end customers, and, in the case of telecommunications end products, also from the network operators, must be taken into consideration for improving the product, so that modified product versions or models can be developed in accordance with demand. Often, the importance of individual characteristics that exist or of characteristics that have not been provided can only be derived from the reactions of the market.
During the life cycle of a product, technical support, including repair and maintenance, the provision of accessories and replacement parts, and, for example, also disposal or recycling of old devices, must be coordinated.
In the case of the methods for controlling and evaluating testing and development systems in the product development of a product having a complex structure, teams of experts are usually involved in the development, the testing, and the analysis of the test results. The type and scope of the tests to be carried out, in particular, must also be established by the experts, taking specific technical knowledge into consideration, as a function of the various specified values, the analysis results, the market conditions, and the status of development. In this connection, it must be considered that the reliability of the test results increases by means of comprehensive tests, but this causes the costs and the development period to increase.
In order to allow a goal-oriented and systematic procedure in the case of complex products, a step-by-step procedure, to a great extent, is required with the known methods. In this connection, individual partial aspects of the product development are worked on sequentially, one after the other, by different teams of experts. This procedure is also called a waterfall model in the technical literature. In the case of such a procedure and the involvement of different teams of experts, it is only possible to determine the precise interaction of different partial aspects and product characteristics with great effort.